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Thieves Steal 12 Metric Tons of Snails Destined for France

By Vladimir Negron May 20, 2011 at 04:16PM

WARSAW - Polish police have nabbed two suspects who stole 12 metric tons (tonnes) of snails gathered in the remote forests of northern Poland and destined for dinner plates in France as garlic-buttered escargot, local police said Thursday.

"The two suspects broke into a depot belonging to a local wholesaler. Using their truck they made several trips back and forth stealing a large number of crates filled with snails," Karolina Gastol-Zawicka, a spokeswoman for police in Sztum, northern Poland, told AFP via telephone.

"It was 12 tonnes of snails. According to estimates, it was about 350,000 individual molluscs," she added.

Police nabbed the thieves a day after they made away with the escargots while they were trying to sell them to a different wholesaler in the region.